For Those We Love
by Phrophetsam
Summary: With the multiverse destroyed and his loved ones gone, Barry Allen makes his choice. To go back to set things right. Starts in Season 4 of The Flash before deviating from canon. Karivarry/Super Flarrow.
1. Chapter 1

For those we Love

**Author's Note**

**A story like this has been in my head for a while now and maybe the new decade is the time I finally get this done. I've been wanting to write a Flash time travel fic that doesn't follow the canon episodes and what exactly happens in each episode but rather one where things go differently and I take several chapters to explore different story arcs.**

**I've taken influence from the stories "The Shape of Things to Come" by Argyle.S and "Call me Kara" by SpeedForce 1229. The former is about Kara coming back in time to fix things and the author works hard to portray accurate Kryptonese as well as Kryptonian culture while the latter is a fic where the author gets Kara to Earth-1 to stay with Barry. They're both good fics and I recommend them.**

**This Barry is a tired Barry, one that is still brimming with Hope but who has also been tempered by war and strife. What happens when a Barry Allen who has been forged in the fires of conflict is sent back to the moment he is taken out of the SpeedForce by Team Flash? **

**Regarding Pairing, don't expect a conventional one. This won't be WestAllen but rather Karivarry, which is a Kara/Oliver/Barry polygamous relationship that I don't see too many serious fics include. Support Character pairings will probably be figured out as we go.**

Chapter 1: Returning

"_**You my friend… are the very best of us" -Oliver Queen**_

**Barry Allen**

Barry Allen really wanted a drink right now. Some of that stuff Cisco had that could affect him despite his Speedster metabolism would be great. The war against Darkseid hadn't been going too well and when the Anti-Monitor showed up to destroy the Universe he was pretty sure that it was just his bad luck. With two unrelenting evils to fight at the same time the League had gotten overwhelmed and he had watched as Kara Zor-El and Darkseid killed each other in a duel for the ages. Then Oliver Queen had to go and get himself killed fighting the Anti-Monitor before the Anti-Matter wave destroyed the Universe.

So sitting in a floating house made of wood was pretty surreal to him right now.

"What's on your mind Red?" John Constantine asked as he sat to the opposite of the Scarlet Speedster, cigarette and lighter in hand.

"How are we alive?"

"It's the House of Mystery mate. It's survived the end of the Multiverse before and it's done it again. She always comes through." The man remarked as he took a drag from his cigarette.

"Uhh what?" Barry saked dumbfounded. How was a wooden house able to survive the end of the Multiverse?

"Yeah when Pralaya destroyed the multiverse Zatanna and I were in the house when it happened. Good thing too as there was no other way to link the spiritual and metaphysical… Look mate just know the house is magic alright? Besides you always said that as long as we worked together on the big stuff you'd let the Justice League Dark do its own thing. We rebooted the bloody Universe and life carried on with barely a feather ruffled." The man huffed.

Barry just nodded dumbly, Kara had always hated Horror movies and been the one to support Constantine's decision to separate the Justice League Dark from the main League in an effort to get away from all the demons and ghosts. If she had a choice she let others help the JLD first and she would only help if absolutely needed. He himself had helped defeat a few of the JLD's enemies and Oliver even got possessed by Deadman that one time but Kara had never gone near one their cases.

"Oh by the by Boston's here right now", Constantine gestured to the air between them as if he could see the Deadman floating, which Barry just realized, he probably could. "He'll accompany you one your trip."

"You sure about this Boston? It's a one way trip and the only way back is the long way around." Barry supplied to the ghost, looking at where he hoped he was. "I'd be glad for the company though." He admitted after some pause. The acrobat turned ghost, turned Justice League Dark member would be someone useful to have in the past, especially to help in doing what was needed to prevent the great perils they would face.

"He says he's with you all the way Flash." Constantine replied for the dead man with a smirk, signifying to Barry that Boston Brand was not, in fact, with him all the way. Still he'd take the help he can get.

"So how do I do this? You say some words and I run back in time?" Barry asked incredulously, yearning for the days before parallel earths, aliens, and magic were so prominent in his life. Although two of those things were responsible for him getting his wife so maybe he shouldn't be so nostalgic.

"No I cast an incredibly complex spell that binds together elements of multiple ancient societies and religions that will, _hopefully,_ allow the conscious entities of both you and Boston to fuse with your past selves and then you go ahead and run fast enough that you access the SpeedForce in order to travel back in time to a day of your choice and go save the whole of creation." The Laughing Magician replied snarkily. "Now go get some sleep because this will take some time to prepare."

Barry nodded and watched Constantine walk off, presumably to gather what artefacts and magical things he needed in order to activate the spell. He didn't need sleep. He needed Oliver and Kara back. He needed Cisco and Caitlyn back. Hell even Bruce or Diana would be good to see at this moment in time. He couldn't let his second chance go to waste.

But it didn't take long for him to doze off.

* * *

"_Barry I need you to distract those parademons! Get me an opening to Darkseid!"_

"_Vic, Firestorm, with me! Ray go with her!" Barry snapped off orders to the League members still standing. "Be careful Kara!" he shouted before running off to fight Darkseid's troops with Cyborg and Firestorm while the Atom rushed to keep up with Kara, shooting anything attempting to stop her from reaching Darkseid's control room where the alien was no doubt waiting for them._

"_Bravo Team to Alpha Team. Booster Gold to Flash! We're getting overwhelmed near the cargo bay! Request immediate assistance from one of the Heavy Hitters! Vixen is down and so are Ice and Fire!" Barry could hear the desperation in the time traveler's voice._

"_This is Support Team Alpha requesting immediate assistance. We're running low on men and ammo and are cut off from evac. Where's Hoss? We need someone to bail us out of here!"_

_Barry heard Rene's message and hesitated ever so slightly before knocking out the parademon he was fighting. This mission was under his command and he couldn't afford to hesitate. Rene's team had 20 of the best League Support troops with them, along with an ARGUS strike team. The bombs on the supports they were guarding were necessary to blow the ship to kingdom come._

"_Wild__ Dog I need you to hold as long as possible. You're in this fight and you need to keep it together. Booster get yourselves out of there and try exfiltrating the ship. Kara's engaged with Darkseid and we have our evac route ready." Barry ducked under the swing of a parademon before sending it flying with a vibrating punch._ "_Wild__ Dog we'll send reinforcements to get your team out as soon as we're done here." Barry bit out feeling extremely guilty for lying to him. The room they were in was surrounded on all sides and filled with Darkseid's troops. There was a reason none of the more important of the League members had been on the Support Team._

_Barry gritted his teeth and continued to clear the ship of Darkseid's troops hoping beyond hope that Kara could take the alien down._

* * *

"_Barry! Take Zatanna and Vibe and head right! Take the control room and set up a command station there. Everyone else we fight our way to the Anti-Monitor! Citizen Steel and Superman up front with ranged fighters behind. Legends sweep for stragglers and secure the rear."_

_Barry nodded to Oliver and picked up both Cisco and Zatanna to the control room, knocking down the anti-matter troops that stood against them and clearing the control room. It took moments for Cisco to hack into the security systems of the base and download the schematics while Zatanna helped secure the room._

_Analyzing the map and cameras he realized the courtyard team were becoming overwhelmed by the garrison the Anti-Monitor kept in the asteroid facility._

"_Flash to Green Arrow, Hal's team isn't looking too good. I'm heading out to help."_

"_Negative Barry. Get to my location. Clark's down and Nate isn't looking too good. The courtyard team knows what's at stake. We're pinned heavily and need to get to the device."_

_Barry growled in frustration. Too many had died during the War against Darkside and he doubted many would survive the desperate assault on the Anti-Matter Wave Facility._

_Barry ran to where Oliver was and quickly sped around the room snapping the necks of the Anti-Matter troops who had gotten Oliver's team pinned. He stopped in front of his best friend and husband and watched the troops fall to the ground, their laser fire having stopped._

"_Get me to wherever the Anti-Monitor is while you guide the rest to the Anti-Matter Wave generator. That thing needs to be destroyed." Oliver growled out before he softly whispered to his brother in all but blood, "For Kara."_

* * *

The Flash was woken by the shaking of the House of Mystery. 'What was happening?' he wondered before he saw John Constantine sitting cross-legged in the middle of some markings on the ground that he noticed were made with a mix of a chalk-like substance and some liquid that looked remarkably like fresh blood.

"The House is straining under the weight of the magical seals I had to put down around us." The blonde man said.

Looking down he saw that he too surrounded by similar markings as John, and there was another circle to his right, completing the triangle of markings.

"I'll be sacrificing my life energy to get you two to be able to fuse with your younger selves meaning that my body will fade away into nothing. After I say the words you'll have seconds to enter the Speedforce and come out at the correct time, taking with you the magical energy that would take my place here on this seal. That energy will allow you to take over your younger self. Same for Boston. As Deadman is on the third seal you'll take him with you and he'll take over his younger self, which is a younger ghost so not much change on that front." John paused for a bit to light his cigarette, which Barry had learned on a previous mission actually held magical properties and helped Constantine with his magic.

"By the way my younger self might get an inkling to meet you, thanks to the magical energy you'll be taking with you. Just tell him the truth about the future and about his future self being the one to do this spell and he'll probably get around to helping you. Depends on how I'm feeling at the time. Might take some convincing but you could give him this." Constantine took a small wooden box from his iconic jacket and threw it to Barry to catch.

"What's inside?" Barry questioned before opening it slowly. Inside was a metal nail, with some rust and blood on it. Surprisingly enough the parts with blood on it still looked fresh and did not seem to rust.

"One of the nails used in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Been looking for one and I end up finding it a few years after meeting you. There should be a paper in the box with details on how to get it in the past. Having two of the bloody things would probably convince the past me to join the League earlier." Constantine explained. "Now then, are you ready?"

Barry was sure of many things. He was sure that he missed Ollie and Kara. He was sure that he missed Central City and the times where it was just him and Team Flash against a bad guy of the week. He wasn't sure he was ready to go back to those times.

"A good friend once told me that I must go forward, always forward. Perhaps this time they were wrong." Barry mused aloud. "Let's do it Hellblazer."

And with that inhuman light erupted forth from the ground beneath him. He felt his skin burn and regenerate at insane speeds, his eyes closed in pain. Opening them he saw his old friend and fellow League member disintegrate before his very eyes. John's iconic jacket burning away as if the light itself were some scalding fire.

He tilted his head and saw a white, very pale man in a red jumpsuit writhing in pain as the light seemed to bend around him yet still make contact, burning him and yet not burning him at the same time. 'That must be Deadman'

He could feel the Speed Force in his body try to help him stay alive, but amidst the pain he knew that he had only seconds before burning up.

'Focus Barry' he shouted to himself mentally, as he prepared to run and access the Speed Force in order to make the run back in time.

* * *

_Barry held up Kara's limp body, her arm broken and bent at an unnatural angle, and missing one of her legs, she nonetheless smiled at Barry._

"_He'd dead Barry. I did it." she choked out. "Barry I… I'm so sorry"_

_He shook his head and cried; his mouth hoarse from screaming her name. The ship around them shook violently, showing itself to be more and more unstable now that it's captain was dead._

"_The ship… It'll blow," his wife told him with a shaky voice. "Run Barry, Run."_

_He held her body close and watched the light drain from her eyes, feeling the silence emanating from her body penetrate his heart and stilling the world around him._

* * *

"_Oliver we've disabled the device! The Anti-Matter Wave is gone!" He shouted in his commlink, as he brought team members out to the courtyard where the extraction ships waited._

_There was no reply and suddenly Barry's stomach felt ice cold. He quickly ran toward the place where he had dropped Oliver off before seeing the bow on the floor. And just a few yards away from the weapon was the man he loved._

"_Oliver!" he shouted holding the man's head to his chest, as he saw the Anti-Matter energy eat through his torso._

"_Barry" he coughed out. "The Anti-Monitor is gonna attack Earth-1 personally. He'll try to finish what he started. You have to protect the planet Barry." Oliver pleaded with his best friend._

"_First it was Kara, and then you Ollie. I can't lose you Ollie. Please come back to me Ollie. Please!" Barry replied shouting._

"_Run back to Earth Barry." Oliver smiled at him. "Run Barry, Run."_

Barry ran, accessing the Speed Force in his cells as he went. He could feel two objects attached to him, dragging him down with some weight and he realized that they must be Constantine's energy and Deadman.

Pushing his body to the limit he ran faster than he'd ever run before. The Reverse Flash, Zoom, and Savitar were in his mind even as he surpassed their speeds. He saw The Anti-Monitor activate the smaller anti-matter device over Earth-1, his Earth. He saw Caitlin and Cisco turn to dust in front of his.

He saw Oliver Queen battle Malcolm Merlyn atop a roof and Kara Zor-El lift Fort Ross into space. He saw Rip Hunter and Sara Lance leading the Legends and Leonard Snart sacrifice himself in an explosion. He witnessed the defeat of the Reverse Flash, the death of Zoom, the end of Savitar.

He saw the dawn of time and the end of the Universe. He watched as The Multiverse was created and he saw formation of the Justice League. He bore witness to the death of Oliver Queen and Kara Zor-El. He saw infinity and time unending.

Then he was in unbearable pain. He felt all his extremities start to burn up and disintegrate. His fingers were already shorter and his feet were on fire.

'I have to keep running'

He felt his cells scream out in pain, that the Speed Force in them wasn't enough. He felt his very life energy start to drain from his body, threatening to leave him a failure. Barry's mind went to his friends, his family. _Kara, Ollie, Ray, Sara, Rip, Dig, Constantine. _The list went on in his head as the faces of those he loved flash before his eyes 'I won't let their deaths be in vain.'

And then he saw his mother. There she was, smiling at him, dying in his arms that night he went back to see her. His head was heavy and he could run no longer.

And then he was in a cell in the Pipeline holding a marker.

He could feel his body was younger, much younger. 'It worked?' he questioned in his head. 'This is after they got me out of the Speed Force. Before Devoe and the Nazi invasion!' Barry remarked. He had hoped to go a little farther back, but this would work out. Plans and Strategies played out in Barry's mind. The Justice League, the Reformed League of Assassins, the United Earth Government. Everything needed to form earlier than it had.

"Please Barry. Iris is in danger." Joe West pleaded to his foster son, breaking Barry out of his reverie.

He smiled and rolled his eyes. Iris was always getting into the danger.

He felt the meta-human dampeners around him fail to affect him, his connection to the Speed Force having far outgrown being simple superpowers but had evolved to be an integral part of him. Spending a few million years in the Speed Force would do that to you.

Phasing through the cell door past the aging detective he ran to the cortex and put on the new suit Cisco made. He allowed himself a small smile seeing it again. One of his favorite suits. He still preferred the . He didn't need an actual suit of course, considering that he could create one around him using the Speed Force, but he might as well wear one for old times' sake.

He started running, phasing through the walls of Star Labs and into the streets of Central City. He laughed as he ran past the familiar streets and buildings, seeing old haunts like Jitters and his old workplace CCPD HQ. Zooming past cars and traffic he made his way to where he knew the Samuroid was confronting Iris. Jumping up he vibrated his fist and tore the robot apart while catching Iris with his other arm. Dropping to the ground he ran straight back to STAR and dropped his current fiancé down in the middle of the cortex.

He took the mask off his face and looked for the first time in a long time at his sister, brother, two of his best friends, and his foster father.

"Hey guys. What's up." He said jokingly, smiling warmly at those he considered family.

He was quickly swamped by everyone hugging him. Cisco let go first after about 10 seconds, before Caitlyn and Wally decided to let Iris and Joe have their moment. He stood in their embrace for a few moments before finally pushing back.

"Kept you waiting huh?" Barry asked.

"Barry I thought you were gone forever! Everyone was missing you and we were so worried and-" Iris started to speak before Joe cut her off.

"We missed you Bar(pronounced Bear)!" Joe exclaimed.

"How long has it been for you guys?" He asked, knowing full well the answer.

"9 months" Wally answered. "I've been trying to cover for you as Kid Flash but I was never as good as you were Barry."

Barry patted Wally on the shoulder. "You'll get there Wally. Don't worry."

"How long has it been for you?" Caitlyn asked, curious as to why Barry's body language and demeanor seemed to have changed.

"Two million six-hundred and 52 thousand years, 3 months, 24 days, 3 hours, and 2 minutes." He said. Even far into the future, he had never truly gotten over the amount of time he had spent in the Speed Force, the experience having been ingrained into his mind and soul for as long as he lived.

There was a pregnant silence after that as his friends and family took in the amount of time he had just spent inside a prison.

"Barry… are you ok?" Iris approached him. He had gotten over her long ago in the future but he had to admit that his younger self did have taste. His sister was very hot.

"I'm fine Iris. Actually, I'd like to speak to you about something." He replied.

The rest of his friends and family nodded and stepped outside as Barry prepared to dump one of his best friends in the world and someone he viewed as a sister. Honestly how did Joe not decide that this was too weird of a relationship to have he never knew. He thought social services might get involved or something because he and Iris went through puberty together and were raised as brother and sister by Joe and yet he allowed the two of them to have a romantic relationship.

"Iris we have to talk about our engagement." Barry said in a serious voice.

"You excited? I finally get to plan a wedding! I… I had doubts that you would come back sometimes. But now you are back and I'm happier than I've ever been before." Iris confessed to Barry.

"Iris I don't love you, not in that way."

Iris took a few steps back, tears starting to form in her eyes as her mind tried to comprehend the words Barry spoke.

"Wh..what?" she finally managed to get a word out.

"A few million years gives a person a lot of perspective on things Iris. One of them was our relationship. The fact is Iris, we don't love each other. I proposed to try and save you from Savitar. I proposed because I thought it would be best for you. You're my sister Iris. We grew up together. We talked about our crushes. We talked about our classes in school and we had late nights talking to each other about everything and anything. We're not meant to be together as lovers." Barry paused for a second. "I'm sorry."

Iris looked at Barry for a long moment.

Then she took off the engagement ring and threw it at Barry before storming off.

Barry looked at her retreating back before sighing. 'Now's not the time to try and fix everything at once.'

He took off his suit and placed it on the model in the cortex before running at full speed to his next destination.

Phasing through the door of the Devoe residence he saw the couple talkingin the living room, at a standstill due to Barry moving so fast that everyone else in the world was practically motionless compared to him. He quickly phased his hand through their hearts, shifting some molecules around before running out the house.

The bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Devoe dropped seconds afterward, lifeless and unmoving.

**Boston Brand**

Boston phased out of the cop he had taken control of, having just arrested the contract killer who shot him, before flying away westward.

New Vegas called to him, with bright lights and a buxom magician to recruit.

The Justice League Dark had to assemble.

**Sara Lance**

"Temporal Alert Captain Lance" Gideon's clear voice alerted the entire crew of the Waverider, waking some up.

"What is it Gideon?" Sara asked, already on the bridge drinking her coffee.

"A change to the timeline has occurred. Central City 2017." The AI responded.

"Huh familiar ground then. What exactly happened Gideon? What's the change?" Ray asked walking into the bridge.

"Error." Gideon replied simply.

The Legends looked at each other, their faces showing their confusion.

"Gideon tell us what happened." Sara ordered.

"I cannot. My programming will not allow me to reveal the timeline change that occurred." Gideon replied. "It is quite a strange feeling."

"Override whatever program that is." Sara ordered. "I am the captain of this ship."

"I require higher clearance."

"Who put in this programming in the first place Gideon?" Ray asked, hoping to find a clue as to what happened.

"My creator, Barry Allen."

There was a pregnant pause after that, before Sara broke the silence.

"Looks like we got to beat up a speedster. Set course for Central City, 2017."

"Well at least I'll get to see Clarissa and Lily." Martin chimed in.

**John Constantine**

The demon he had just stabbed gasped for breath, as his essence started to disintegrate into the magic sword that was now stuck between its ribs, it's dark soul would be stored in a safe place in the House of Mystery.

Placing the sword in his trench coat, he turned and walked away from the house the demon had been haunting for quite some time. He had almost been taken by surprise when he had felt a sudden magical energy spike. Normally he'd attribute it to some mage or wizard setting up shop or a magic battle but instead he was surprised as he had felt the magical signature was his own.

After he secured the Sword of Sealing within the deep recesses of the House of Mystery, he set out to discover what exactly was happening in Central City that had set off his magical senses.

_To travel back in time is to throw a stone. As soon that stone is thrown, ripples pour forth and disrupt the water. Barry Allen was that stone, and soon the ripples shall echo and affect all he holds dear. _

**Author's End Note:**

Whew that took a while. I've been thinking about doing this for a while now. Chapters will hopefully be as long as or longer than this first one.

Not super caught up with Legends or Supergirl but I'll try my best. Deadman's origin here is not too complicated. Constantine's is though. I want him to be as "overpowered" as he is in the comics but give him the motivation the NBC show gave him (I loved the show and it's a crime that they cancelled it after only a few episodes. Glad Matt Ryan got to play him in the Arrowverse though.). If you didn't know Constantine is one of the most OP magic characters in comics and his character shines when he's backed up and pulls some bullshit magical spell or item out of his ass to save himself. It's great.

One last thing, I'm still pondering as to how I'm gonna deal with the Earth-1/Earth-38 divide that only exists thanks to the stupid CBS/CW thing early on and has been now dealt with in canon thanks to Crisis on Infinite Earths. If you have any suggestions I'd be glas to hear them.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Give criticism or praise that will either inspire me to continue writing or compel me to improve.


	2. Chapter 2

For Those We Love

Chapter 2: Stars and Planets

"_**When we have someone we love beside us we find it easier to make it out of danger and make it back to them" -Barry Allen**_

**Oliver Queen**

Being a mayor was tougher than he liked. The meetings, the rallies, the laws, and the people who either hated your guts or like you enough to follow anything you said grated on him, especially when he now had to consider himself a single Father. Not to mention the comatose sister, crippled friend and difficult ex-girlfriend he had to deal with.

Walking into his office he set down the stack of papers he was carrying concerning the recent anti and pro vigilante debates raging throughout the internet and public forums throughout the city and resolved to make his weekly call to STAR Labs to see whether Cisco had figured out how to get Barry Allen, someone he considered a brother and best friend, out of the Speed Force.

He was disrupted from doing so by his assistant entering the room. Mary, who, while effective and professional, was considered by many around City Hall to be quite rude.

"Mr. Mayor, someone out here says that he is your personal friend and would like to speak to you. He's quite insistent on meeting you, no matter how many times I've told him that he needs an appointment. I've got security on the line but he insists you'll allow him to see you sir."

Looking over her shoulder he had to stop his jaw from dropping as he saw a smiling Barry Allen looking at him sheepishly.

"It's alright Mary I know him very well. Please let him come in." He dismissed her with a short nod.

The two old friends greeted each other and pulled each other into a hug.

"When did you get out of the Speed Force Barry?!" Oliver asked, happy that maybe there was some good news in his life right now.

"Yesterday actually. You know Cisco. Once he gets his mind to it he was never going to stop until he got me out." Barry grinned, although it was a little subdued. "I actually came to see you and see if we could catch up. Maybe over Lunch?"

"Sure." Oliver quickly replied before realizing what he just promised. "Hold on I'm having lunch with William today. Maybe I can ask him. I'm sure he'd love to meet you."

"Oh yeah sure I'd love to meet your son! I'm sure we could bond over the dead mom thing kinda well." Barry replied jokingly before stopping himself. "That wasn't the right thing to say I'm sorry."

"Oh? You heard about what happened with his mom?" Oliver questioned.

"Yeah uhh… I think either Cisco or Caitlyn told me." He admitted, although Oliver could tell something wrong with the way Barry said it. Was he lying? But about what?

He had mused on this on the car ride to his house to pick up William from Raisa yet he had gotten distracted talking to Barry, his friend's natural ability to inspire hope and cheerfulness never failed to put a smile on Oliver's face.

Now after picking up his son it seems he and Barry had gotten along really well.

"Well yeah I helped out your dad while I was here in Star, still Starling back then, and because of that I was late to the opening of the Particle Accelerator. The explosion happened while I was in my lab in the Police Headquarters and I got struck by lightning because of it." Barry explained to the young boy who was eating it all up with awe.

As they entered the Big Belly Burger he made sure to get a good table for 3 near the back exit that let him have a good view of the room. Surprisingly enough even before he gestured to the table, Barry had already been leading William towards it.

'Looks like Barry has taken those lessons to heart' He thought before sitting down to enjoy a nice meal with two of the most important men in his life.

He helped Barry tell stories about their adventures together and generally entertain his son before the food came. He was debating in his head whether to tell Barry to reveal his identity or not when William asked a question.

"So who are you then? I know Dad's the Green Arrow but what about you?" William asked.

Barry just smiled and said "Why don't you pull out those action figures in your pocket to play with?"

As William pulled out the Green Arrow and The Flash action figures he had bought, Barry picked up the Flash toy and said "My name is Barry Allen and I'm the fastest man alive." Before moving the toy around the table as if it was running around.

William's face was scrunched up in deep thought for a few moments and it made Oliver smile. Then he made a face of realization and looked at Barry in awe, now knowing that he was meeting his favorite superhero ever.

"Oh my God you're the F-" William shouted out before his mouth was covered by Barry's hand. Both adults took a quick look around the room to see if anyone had been paying attention to what William had just been saying, which thankfully no one was, when the waitress came by to give them their food.

"One Big Belly Burger for you Mr. Mayor. One Child Belly Burger for the young cutie right here." She said placing the two burgers in front of Oliver and his son. "If you hold on I'll get that Mega-Big Belly Buster for you sir!" the young blonde said before leaving to get Barry's order.

"Did you really have to get the biggest thing on the menu Bar?" Oliver asked, amused at his friend's antics.

"Eh it was either that or 10 Big Belly Burgers Ollie." He replied cheekily. "You see William, since I'm so fast, my body's metabolism is much faster and therefore I have to eat around 5 times more food than the average person to stay awake." He turned to William to explain, who had just nodded in understanding.

When the waitress returned, she had brought the biggest burger he'd ever seen, probably enough to feed a family of 4 for an entire day. 'or Barry or Kara' Oliver mused, knowing his superfriends (why did Felicity have to call them that?) both had a penchant for big appetites. "Here ya go" she said with a smile.

What the waitress did next was more peculiar. After putting down the food she leaned forward to write something down on the napkin and giving it to Barry with a wink, before walking away.

"Mr. Allen, I think that girl likes you." William said sheepishly, his face red.

Barry chuckled before replying. "I think she does Will." Reading the napkin, Barry's eyebrows rose, as if he was reading something more interesting than a cute girl's number, before they shot down and Barry returned to his normal self, pocketing the napkin in his jacket.

"I'm just going to the bathroom for a bit. Make sure no one eats my food." Barry joked, standing and making his way to the washroom.

'Weird' Oliver thought. Looking around on a hunch he also noticed the waitress who had given Barry the napkin was gone too. Had Barry worn his engagement ring? Oliver could swear he hadn't seen it. But Barry wasn't the type of person to take up a random girl on an offer of sex right?

After a few minutes he told William he would just check on Barry and to wait for him.

Walking towards the bathroom, he knocked and realized quickly that it was empty. He made his way to the back exit, stopping before he could be seen by anyone in the alley.

"-searching for more of them alright? I'll do some running around on my end too, maybe tomorrow or something. This was a bit too conspicuous for my liking Boston." Oliver picked up Barry's hushed voice.

"We'll use a code then. Ever been to Cape Town in South Africa?" the girl, their waitress earlier, said before pausing, presumably to let Barry nod his head. "Alright if someone asks if you remember your trip to Cape Town then that's me." Silence again. Then he heard footsteps making their way towards him.

As silently as possible he made his way back to the table.

"Hey sorry the toilet wouldn't flush" Barry said with a smile as he sat back down.

Looking over back at the waitress she stopped and held her head, seemingly dizzy, then shrugged it off and went back to work. Was she an agent of some government acronym Barry knew? The feeling that Barry was hiding something grew in Oliver's gut and he was a lot less enthusiastic during the rest of the lunch.

"Are we gonna go to the hospital dad?" William asked, breaking Oliver out of his thoughts. "We normally go after lunch to visit my aunt Thea!" William said enthusiastically. "Wanna come?"

Barry agreed and somehow, he found himself in Starling General just a few minutes later leading his son and his friend, a friend who he was sure was keeping something from him, into Thea's hospital room where she lay comatose.

"Mind if we talk in another room Barry?" Oliver asked his friend, hoping that if this was an imposter or something that it would help keep William out of danger. "Privately."

"Yeah sure." The man who looked like Barry Allen said, before they both made their way to the empty room adjacent to Thea's.

"Who was that? Back at the restaurant." Oliver said outright. He wasn't going for subtlety in this situation, rather going for the direct approach. "I overheard you guys outside".

Barry tensed for a few moments before relaxing. "How much did you hear?"

"Just the tail-end of the conversation. Enough to know she wasn't a waitress. Or at least whoever was controlling her." He had gone through the evidence in his head enough times to gauge that the most likely conclusion was that a meta-human was involved, or perhaps magic. "Answer the question."

"Boston Brand. He's a ghost who uses his powers of possession to help people and stop crimes." Barry responded with a straight face. Which was weird because he had to be joking.

"A ghost?" Oliver blurted out communicating effectively communicating his confusion. "A fucking ghost Barry?"

"Yes, a ghost." Barry said amused. "It's part of the reason why I came here to talk to you. I've been thinking of starting something and he's helping me to do it. Something organized."

"What do you mean?"

"Something organized regarding people like us Ollie. Heroes. Superpowered or not. Magical or non-Magical. Just heroes who can work together to help save people."

"What would we call it? The Superteam? The Hero Squad?" Oliver joked before turning serious. "Barry… our crimes are different from yours. Star City is a darker place than-"

"Don't give me that bullshit Ollie!" Barry interrupted him. "I've killed people before. I've watched people die. Yes, maybe we deal with different sorts of crimes but that doesn't mean the darkness doesn't set in just because I deal with meta-humans more often that regular scumbags. I've been through hell, and so have you. But more importantly you have to look at the benefits. I know you tried calling the Legends and I a few months ago when you were about to go to Lian Yu and we were both busy but what about Kara? She could have easily saved everyone on your team and Lian Yu wouldn't be a charred piece of ash right now. What about Mari McCabe or John Constantine? What about the Green Lantern or Nightwing? Working together with other heroes means we get to face things we can't face alone, and getting out of situations with more lives saved than lives lost Oliver."

"My problems aren't the problems of other people Barry!" Oliver replied. He didn't recognize the names of the last two.

"No but they can be! IF we all work together. If we promise to help each other in times of need! We're heroes Ollie! We all choose to go out there and risk our lives to save people. Maybe that needs to extend to each other as well. What if a world-ending event takes place in Siberia or somewhere in Africa? Because as long as it's not in Starling, Central, or wherever we decide to hang our bows, masks, or whatever then it's not our problem, right? Who protects Keystone if something like the Siege or the Undertaking decides to happen there? Who protects Washington D.C.? Ollie we could have a chance to do something great here. To create something bigger than ourselves! Please consider it." Barry ended his speech before walking back to Thea's room.

'Maybe he's right. But it'd need someone who can inspire people to lead it. And I know the perfect person.' Oliver smiled as he mulled it over. It's never been something that he'd thought of before but right now maybe that speech he gave to Barry when he woke up from the coma all those years ago was paying off.

"_You can be something more Barry. You can inspire people"_

He'd never forgot his first talk with Barry, one that led to many more talks and many more adventures. Whether he agreed with Barry or not he knew that he would back him on the course of action he chose if he truly thought it correct, and he knew Barry would do the same for him.

He walked back to Thea's room and saw Barry standing over her bed with a contemplative look in his eyes.

"What're you thinking about Bar?"

"Whether I should do what I'm about to do or not." Barry Replied before placing his hands on Thea and closing his eyes, as if to concentrate.

'What's he doing?' Oliver thought as he saw Barry start to vibrate intensely.

His arms started vibrating even faster, shaking even Thea now, who vibrated at the same frequency.

This went on for about 30 seconds, but to Oliver it might as well have been 30 minutes of watching his best friend and his sister vibrate at speeds faster than sound.

When they stopped vibrating Barry collapsed a little and Oliver rushed to catch him, passing his awestruck son who had frozen at the sight of his favorite hero using his powers right in front of him.

"Barry what did you do?!" Oliver ask him as he caught him, propping him up and looking at his sister carefully.

"Decided… to give you… an early Christmas present." Barry said, out of breath.

That's when Thea Queen started to stir. Her heart rate on the EKG rose and normalized and her eyes opened.

Oliver only stood wide-eyed at what had just happened. His sister was awake. And it was all Barry Allen's doing.

* * *

**Barry Allen**

Barry got the hapless security guard out of the way of the incoming bullets before grabbing the two gunmen, disarming them, and putting them in the security guard's handcuffs, attached to some heavy piping. Running off he slowed down enough so the civilians could see his lightning trail.

'Visiting Ollie was fun.' Barry mused as he ran around helping the citizens for a few minutes before leaving towards Central. He had left the Queen family to talk to each other and reacquaint themselves. It took about a second before he arrived in STAR Labs to wait for a big alert or something else to come up. While he was being proactive, he knew there were some small things he had to handle too. Plus, Joe was still smoothing things over with Singh, who knew he was the Flash but Joe didn't know Singh knew, so he couldn't do CSI things right now. Joe was a little mad at Barry too, considering what his daughter had told him about his adopted son and hoe he had broken up with her.

He was broken from his thoughts by a familiar blonde smoking man in a trench coat walk into the cortex. John Constantine was in town.

"John Constantine." Barry said with a smile. While he knew this man wasn't the same as his fellow Leaguer and decent friend that he had gotten to know in the future but he was close at least.

"And you're the Flash." He said stopping a few feet in front of the speedster.

"And still you got to Central pretty fast from wherever you were, even if you aren't the Flash. Probably from somewhere on the East Coast. Synchronicity Wave?" Barry asked

"How did you know about the synchronicity wave Red?" Constantine asked, puzzled. Travelling on the Synchronicity wave allowed him to bypass both parts of the Speed Equation, Space and Time, and it brought him either wherever he needed to be or wherever Fate wanted him. Only the Laughing Magician, a title currently held by him and him alone, could access it.

"The name's Barry Allen." was the reply. Then Barry tossed the small wooden container that his Constantine had given him, the one with the nail of Christ.

"Christ… and I mean that literally. These things are rare as all hell. And there's directions to another one?" Constantine said, opening the box and inspecting the things inside.

"It's from the future you." Barry said before he dove into explaining the situation and how Constantine had sent Barry and Boston back to this time.

"And this Justice League Dark… we handled the supernatural and occult things the regular League couldn't handle?" Constantine asked after absorbing everything that Barry had talked about. After seeing the nod Constantine straightened. "So you want me to meet up with Boston and try recruiting other Dark members while you try getting the main League off the ground? I could probably do that. I owe you for the nails after all. This whole teamwork thing might be fun, plus I'm sure Deadman could tell some tales about our adventures in the future."

"Yeah you guys got into some crazy stuff." Barry replied, knowing that Constantine had barely filled in reports to the League computer, so he probably didn't even know half of what the Justice League Dark had gotten up to.

After his conversation with the warlock, Barry went back to work creating some of the tools he'd need in his quest to change the future. He had already made around 5 JL communicators, more streamlined and tidier versions of the ones he had made before which he had powered by his facsimile of a Kryptonian betahedron which would make sure the thing could last maybe a few million years give or take a decade. He put the small invisible earpiece he had been working on into his right ear.

"Hello Gideon."

"Hello Creator. I am working at full functionality."

The smaller, more mobile and discrete Gideon had always been an idea of his, especially when he had spread the AI to handle every League HQ, safehouse, and base back in the future, but Darkseid had attacked before he had gotten the chance.

"How much is in the account Gideon?"

"30 Billion, 243 Million, 652 Thousand, 35 Dollars and 52 cents."

Barry laughed a little. He had gone back in time around 2 decades and, using a mobile Gideon, hacked a bank account into existence and left the AI to manage it and its investments. It was his idea to create such a thing in order to bankroll whatever he needed to build some early League equipment and facilities.

Running off to the building he knew to be the Hall of Justice, but right now was just an abandoned old STAR Labs warehouse. Gideon had gotten equipment delivered here a few days before he had arrived, and he now had to assemble the foremost earth-based Headquarters the Justice League had ever had. Even Watchtower, while a more effective HQ and Command Post, had never really felt like a home, unlike the Hall of Justice or maybe the League's Lian Yu compound.

It took him about 3 hours but by the end the warehouse, while looking refurbished but still unused on the outside, had the inner workings that ARGUS or the DEO would be jealous of, let alone something like the Pentagon. He had excavated an underground parking garage with dozens of different bikes, cars, SUVS, and even a few jets which could fly out of the openable doorway in the ceiling. The main building housed bedrooms, a dining area, and multiple training rooms. IN the center, on a raised dais, was the table of the League Council, where the League's leaders could meet in private. There was also a room for Fallen Heroes, one he hoped he would never have to add something to. There were computer screens around the transport pad, which reminded him to create the Zap Tunnels so that everyone could teleport where they needed to.

Now that he had gotten some work done, he made the decision to visit a good friend.

Vibrating on the frequency that he knew was Earth-38's he ran and saw the portal open in front of him, the portal that would lead him to one of the loves of his life.

To Kara.

* * *

**Kara Zor-El**

Kara Zor-El, Head of the Noble and Ancient Houses of El and Ze, last daughter of Krypton, Champion of Earth and Hero of National City was not having a good day.

The cause might be related to the Cadmus soldiers currently shooting her with Kryptonite bullets, although it might also be because of the Cadmus Soldiers attacking the DEO. Or maybe it was the multiple flying cyborg super soldiers Cadmus had created flying around attacking her.

To sum it up. Fuck Cadmus.

"Supergirl there's a breach from another world opening up near your location!" the voice of a DEO agent alerted her. She knew Alex was probably leading the defense of the DEO while J'onn was with her taking one the super soldiers but she still worried about her sister.

Turning she saw a red and gold streak come from the blue portal that had opened up. 'Barry!' Kara thought. Before turning around to dodge some more kryptonite bullets.

"Hey there guys. Need some help?" Barry said in their comms. "Don't mind me, Just hacked into your comms system." She saw the speedster run around tackling the soldiers on the ground to the floor, disarmed and unconscious.

"Just get the ground forces off us so we can focus on these fliers!" Kara gritted out before punching through the nearest one, killing it.

"What, no please?" was Barry's cheeky reply. He continued taking out the Cadmus ground soldiers before running off to reverse-engineer some Radiation Blockers.

Kara had gotten some from the remains of Fort Ross in that future timeline but right now he needed to make some himself. Working quickly with materials from multiple electronics stores he created the radiation blocker and set it to the wavelength he knew Kryptonite would be. Running back into the fray he tossed the blocker to Kara. "Catch Supergirl!"

Catching it quickly, the Girl of Steel was unable to dodge away from a kryptonite blade from one of the cyborgs. Bracing herself to get stabbed she was shocked as she felt… nothing. Opening her eyes she saw that the blade had broken, as if it was regular steel against her skin.

"The radiation blocker will make sure you're protected from Kryptonite" Barry's voice came from her comms.

Smiling she made quick work of the super soldiers before checking for anymore hostiles.

"Supergirl this is Alex. Your speedy friend helped take these guys out. The DEO is secure."

She sighed in relief and flew to the DEO as fast as she could.

Going straight into a bear hug she grabbed the Fastest Man Alive. "Thanks Barry!" Kara said. "You really saved us."

"Actually, we didn't need your help. It was all under control." Alex chimed in, looking annoyed at how easy human contact with this guy was for Kara.

"Ah look I just help out whenever I can. Comes with the uniform." Barry quipped. "It's been a while Kara! You wanna hang out tonight or something?"

"Yeah sure! Potstickers and Musicals at my place?" She asked. After the whole Mon-El situation she hadn't done much with friends except Alex.

Speaking of Winn, he chose that moment to appear. "Hey Barry! You're back."

She smiled as she watched the two nerds greet each other.

"Hey watch this." Barry said before the Flash suit he was wearing started to dissolve away, leaving the clothes underneath it.

"Woah! What was that?" Winn asked excitedly, and it seems most of the DEO agents had gotten wide-eyed as well.

"I used the Speed Force to create the suit around me. Cool huh?" Barry smiled.

She let Winn and Barry catch up for a bit, hearing the discussion shift to Matter-Energy conversion and kinetic energy before making an excuse and flying back to the office. She had an article to write about the whole Cadmus soldiers on the streets of National City situation. Putting her new radiation blocker in her pocket she sat down at her desk and typed out an article in a few minutes using her superspeed. At which point Barry Allen had shown up. "Hey Kara. How are things here at Catco? And your family? How's Mon-El?"

"Same old I guess. James is the boss now since Kat's gone to work at the White House. Eliza and Alexa are fine and… Barry… Mon-El is gone." She launched into an explanation of what had happened.

"Oh but I'm ok with how it ended. I saved the Earth. Don't let that baggage get in the way of catching up. How's Earth 1?" She asked happy to see her old friend and, if she was being honest, her one-time crush. "How's Iris?"

"Oh." Barry looked away a little. "Well Ollie's doing ok, I just got back from the Speed force and I heard the Legends are doing fine. And about Iris… well we broke up."

Kara couldn't hide her surprise if she tried. Barry and Iris? They seemed like the perfect couple! Well she was a little weirded out when someone told her they were adopted siblings. She could never look at Alex that way, although she had thought about it a few times and there was that one time where they almost… you know what never mind.

"Oh my gosh. What happened?"

"The relationship was never gonna work out. We're too much like brother and sister and I couldn't let it go on if I had that feeling we were going to drift apart because of it anyway. She… somewhat disagreed but I've gotten over her." He said.

Kara didn't catch the blush on his face as he stared into her eyes, or the elevated heart rate. Or perhaps she willfully ignored it. She and Barry were just friends after all. They could never get together right?

"Well you're a guy of good judgement Barry. I'm sure you did the right thing. Now why don't you get over to the Chinese place and get some pot stickers for later while I turn in this article." Kara said smiling.

Barry parted from her with a smile before he disappeared.

Kara blinked. Barry had gotten fast. Faster than maybe even she could sense. It seemed he'd also been able to turn his lightning on and off at will, or perhaps been able to go so fast that the lightning blur that came from his speed became invisible.

Dropping off the article she had written with Snapper Carr, she made her way down to the lobby of the building using Cat Grant's former private elevator.

As the elevator doors opened she saw her sister, agent Alex Danvers, waiting for her in the CatCo lobby.

"Hey Alex! Anything you need from me or… Supergirl?" She asked, her voice hushing to a whisper.

"No… no. Just curious. I've heard you talk about this Allen guy to me before and I know you had a little bit of a crush on him after you first met. Is what you're doing later… a date or something?" She asked, a little awkwardly.

"What! No! No this is just a… friends catching up type of thing! A date? Why would you think this is a date? This isn't a date Alex. You're just talking crazy." Kara rambled a little, blushing as she did so.

Alex narrowed her eyes. "Uh huh. Listen I don't like that you're so close to this guy. After Mon-El… I think that you need some time away from guys right now. You guys might end up doing something you don't mean to Kara. I don't trust the guy."

"Alex, he saved the situation today. A lot more DEO agents would be dead if he hadn't shown up. He helped me and J'onn out as well. What's your problem with him?" Kara asked, defending Barry.

"He seems like a nice enough guy but maybe you should hang out with other people with you? Me and Winn and maybe J'onn. It'll be fun." She said, although to Kara it felt pretty unconvincing.

"You're worried something will happen? Barry is one of the best guys I know. He'd never do something untoward to me." Kara grumbled before storming off.

'Maybe I should make her worried', Kara thought making a note to buy something for the night.

* * *

She opened the door to her apartment and saw Barry standing there with boxes full of pot stickers. She smiled and raised what she brought.

"High Strength alcohol fit for aliens and, probably, speedsters too." She smiled.

Then she relaxed as the night went on with them drinking alcohol, eating pot stickers and singing classic musical songs throughout the night.

She had sent a picture of them holding up the booze to Alex, who would definitely freak because of it, before snuggling beside Barry on her couch. She could feel his warmth but more interestingly she could sense how fast his cells were moving on a molecular level. It was incredibly intoxicating to feel just how **fast** his entire organic structure was.

Looking into his eyes she saw him staring at her and she blushed.

"Barry. You ever think we'll find love?" She blurted out without thinking.

"Yes. I do. I think that after all we do for people, all the people we save and crimes we stop, that someone, something, whether it be God or the Universe or Fate, owes us some happiness. But at the same time, we have to choose to find it, and when we do, we have to choose to grasp it and hold it tight. Just like we chose to be heroes. We have to choose to bring Love, to bring Hope into our lives." Barry said immediately.

They looked at each other and she leaned in to kiss him. He didn't.

"Kara… We've been drinking." He pointed out the obvious.

"Barry… That shit I brought has barely affected you. Don't pretend you haven't been acting tipsy just to make me feel better." She retorted.

"Yeah but… you. If we do this I want to it to be real. With our full faculties and in our right minds… Kara I'm not the best person. I mean Flashpoint-"

"Flashpoint doesn't matter Barry. You made a selfish decision, a mistake. Everyone gets those once in a while. You had to suffer Barry, you stayed in that world you created and then decided yourself to change it back. You decided every waking moment of wrongness that you yourself brought on had to be made right. You can travel to other worlds Barry. You could have stayed here or on Earth-2 or Rao knows where but you chose to stay and make things right. That makes you a hero Barry. That makes you someone worth caring for." She almost said "loving" instead of "caring for" but she held her tongue there. "I've… wanted to do this with you for some time now. That first time we met I felt a chemistry I never got to have with James or anyone else. I think so highly of you, a hero who decided to become one after a freak accident while I had my powers since I was just a little kid and never risked it until my sister was in danger. Maybe the only other person I've felt so highly about was Cat. Barry I want to do this. Please."

"Well most drunk people wouldn't be able to make a speech like that so I guess we can try it." he smiled. He didn't say that Cat Grant was the one person who almost broke up the trio of Barry, Oliver and Kara in that future considering the crazy mommy issues Kara had with Cat that had resulted in a year-long sexual relationship or that Kara had made a similar speech to him before in that other timeline, when he had been having issues with his self-esteem after the fight with Amazo. He didn't say any of that. Instead he leaned in and kissed her.

And all felt right in the world. Well… almost. It felt like something was missing. Or perhaps someone.

**Author's Notes:**

**Barry mentions Flashpoint because it's the biggest recent thing for this Barry to bring up that Kara could actually understand. It's not like he could mention any of the mistakes he's made in the future.**

**Some might say we got to the Karry part of the Karivarry pairing is too fast and I say f off I like it that way. Both are pretty emotionally raw right now and I think it's a good enough reason to say Kara could go for it. Now some might say Barry should have told oliver how he feels but I and Barry both know Oliver will need some time, first to get over his relationship with Felicity and next to actually think about getting into such a relationship in the first place. I never said it would be Karivarry right out the gate but expect Oliver's musings on the relationship and Barry talking to Kara about opening it up to include Ollie.**

**I hope you're ok with my usage of Boston Brand as an important character. I'm hoping to include some magic storylines that will utilize both JLD and our favorite Arrowverse characters sometime in the future.**

**Next Chapter will include out favorite time travelling super heroes and also some visits to the prospective members of the JL**

**Edit: Changed the "You know I have a son?" part because I completely forgot Barry was the one that figured out that Ollie has a son during a crossover.**


	3. Chapter 3

For Those We Love

Chapter 3: Friends Old and New

"_**I wish it wasn't just the dark times bringing us together -" -Oliver Queen**_

"_**-But it is friends like you that make those dark times worth having."-Barry Allen**_

**David Singh**

Ducking down under his desk he felt rather than heard the bullets smack into the polished wood. He groaned. 'That'll be expensive to fix' he thought.

Peeking up he opened fire, popping off 3 shots at the shooter with his sidearm, two managing to hit center mass and taking him down, before ducking again as one of his compatriots shifted his fire from the other side of the room towards him.

He was about to shout out orders for his officers to flank the 4 remaining criminals before he heard a whooshing sound and peeked up to see a red blur before all 4 were unconscious on the ground with handcuffs on them. Looking over the 4 incapacitated assailants he saw a man in a red suit, with yellow highlights and a lightning bolt on his chest.

"Flash! You're back!" Maria Rodriguez, the Duty Sergeant shouted.

This was met with some cheers from the rest of the precinct and some celebratory yells from the officers, as well as a few groans from the men and women in the holding cells.

Captain Singh cleared his throat. "Welcome back Flash. Thanks for the help." he asked.

"Armed Men attacking a Central City Police Precinct? I've been gone 6 months and that's what it's come to?" The Flash asked him in his strange vibrating voice, which reminded him of when someone talked into an electric fan or something.

"Well criminals around here got pretty bold when they realized you were gone and only your little brother or something was left. That Kid Flash was alright, but he wasn't you." He replied and with barely a nod of acknowledgement the man was gone in a flash.

Shaking his head, he simply ordered that someone clean up the mess that was the precinct after a gun battle.

**LINE BREAK**

"Mr. Allen… you're late. 6 months gone and still you haven't changed a bit." Barry Allen entered the Captain's office just a half-hour after the Flash had left, and about 2 hours after he was supposed to meet the Captain. "Well at least this time that was a good thing. You missed the excitement."

"Yeah sorry Captain. Just got back to Central and I moved out of my loft so I'm still getting re-adjusted and stuff." The man explained with an awkward smile before closing the door and shutting the blinds.

Singh just responded with a raised eyebrow.

"You moved out? Something happen with you and Iris?" He asked, curious. That relationship had always weirded him out but who was he to judge?

"Oh yeah we broke up." was the simple reply that told Singh all he needed to know: That he shouldn't talk about it.

"Anyway, Captain I just want to thank you for covering for me these past 6 months. I think you deserve an explanation. You've already figured out I'm the Flash right?"

Oh so that's where this was going. In all honestly David did figure it out after a while, but he had always suspected something after the coma. Plus, this latest disappearance all but confirmed it for him. Now here the man himself was truly confirming that, Yes, Barry Allen is the Flash.

"Yes… but I didn't expect you to figure out I knew."

"You're a smart man captain. I always knew you'd figure it out. I'm grateful for everything you do and I judging from the lack of an arrest warrant you're not going to tell on me or arrest me for vigilantism, right?" Barry said jokingly. "I had to disappear for a while or the City would have been destroyed. Long story. Cisco Ramone over at STAR Labs helped me to get back."

Singh absorbed everything before picking up a folder of paper and handing it over to Barry.

"Everything you need to become a CSI again. The lab's a little backed up from the cases you've missed. You're a great enough guy Barry and I do appreciate the work you do as your… alter ego, but I need Barry Allen: CSI to do the things only he can do and when the city needs the Flash, then go nuts Barry." Was his reply.

"Sure thing captain. Oh and I'll keep this quiet from Joe since I know you probably like hearing the excuses he has to make when I go missing." Barry Allen said smiling before leaving.

Singh chuckled. It was pretty funny to watch Joe try and fail to produce believable excuses regarding his adoptive son's disappearances. He only hoped Joe wouldn't try to misdirect him in an effort to protect Barry's identity and have some speedster dressed up as the Flash appear in the same room as Barry or something.

Shrugging, Captain Singh went back to work, not noticing the discrete electronic device that had been left underneath his desk, one that could act as both a listening device and an internet portal that could allow someone to hack into the work computer of the Police Captain.

**LINE BREAK**

**Caitlyn Snow**

Caitlyn Snow was checking over the vitals taken from Barry's suit from the attack on the precinct when the man himself rushed into the room in his casual clothes.

"Barry! Where have you been?" Cisco asked the speedster. After Barry's return, his loft with Iris had been emptied of his things and the man was nowhere to be seen until the next day when reports came in of the Flash running around Star City. Then he had left towards Central, but no member of Team Flash had seen him until now.

"Earth-38. Caught up with Kara. Before that I was with Ollie in Star." was his terse reply before he blurred away and back for a second, now holding a stack of papers. "Could you guys go over these?" he asked, handing the stack to Caitlyn.

"Resumés and Personnel Sheets?" Caitlyn asked looking over the stack. She recognized some as former employees of STAR Labs under the disguised Eobard Thawne and some as well-respected men and women in their respective scientific fields. "What for Barry?"

"Are you trying to replace us or something?" Cisco, who had leaned over Caitlyn's shoulder to look over the papers, blurted out.

"No of course not guys! You're my original Team Flash and I could never replace you." Barry said, with an emotional voice. "I'm technically the owner of STAR Labs and it occurred to me during my time in the Speedforce that we could be doing a lot more good for the community and for others if there were actual scientific experiments going on here in the outer labs and areas around the Cortex and courtyard. Not to mention make a decent amount of profit. I've got ideas to expand the Labs and to breach into different industries." He said explanatorily.

She looked at Cisco and it seems they both were thinking hard about this.

"Barry but what about your work as the Flash? Even having others in the building will endanger your secret identity. What about security? And where will we get the money to get all this going?" Cisco and Caitlyn asked a flurry of questions which seemed to amuse Barry.

"The Flash is already connected to STAR Labs in the eyes of the public. It won't be difficult to explain that the owner and employees of STAR Labs are friendly to the Flash and help him out. We can install secret entrances to the Flash "Cave" and expand underground too. With employees it'll be easy to justify hiring security guards and expanding the security measures would be a good idea especially with the amount of times our baddies have just strolled in here. As for money…" He looked towards Caitlyn. "Don't think I haven't noticed what you've been doing with Hero Corp Cait."

She flushed a little. "Yeah I guess you must have noticed. How else are we supposed to keep the lights on?" she said. Looking to the now confused Cisco she explained "Hero Corp is a STAR Labs subsidiary that owns the rights to all the heroes and their logos. Every time someone sells a shirt or a bobblehead part of the money goes to us. The Green Arrow, The Flash, The ATOM, Firestorm and even White Canary and the others. Its brought in enough to keep the Labs running and for our salaries and gadgets, but I don't know how we'll finance what you're thinking Barry."

"I'll find some cash to inject into STAR. Don't worry about it. Just find good scientists who are skilled enough to get some grant money, as well as those with good ideas that can benefit people." Barry waved away the notion that they couldn't afford it.

"Anyway, you guys wanna have lunch? It's on me." Barry grinned and before they knew it the three of them were outside a restaurant.

"Aww yessss! Dibs the most expensive thing on the menu! Thanks for paying Barry!" Cisco exclamatorily shouted before running inside to get them a table.

Caitlyn just smiled and walked in with Barry. It was nice to have her friend back.

**LINE BREAK**

**Barry Allen**

Punching someone while running, if done right, could significantly increase the amount of force you apply to the punch. Running at Supersonic speeds could pretty much kill any normal human. Barry had punched Doomsday at Light Speed once and he regretted it. The monster had been vaporized and a large part of the Sahara Desert had been turned to glass when the punch had exhibited the force equivalent to a nuclear bomb. The side effect was that he had been sucked in the Speed Force and almost been lost to it forever, had Kara and Oliver not arrived and been there to anchor his soul to the world.

The giant tentacle monster Hal Jordan, Earth's one Green Lantern, was fighting could probably take a supersonic punch so Barry opted for a faster speed, hitting the thing with the force of a high explosive artillery shell. He watched the beast stumble and fall onto its side, obviously incapacitated or perhaps dead.

"Hey!"

Barry turned to see the descending green lantern covered in the beast's blood. It seems the battle had been taking place for a while.

"Thanks for that… Flash isn't it? Thing was heading for an orphanage." The Lantern said before encasing the monster in a green construct. "Now I've gotta get rid of this thing."

"Let's talk after. Any good bars we could drink in? As our other selves." Barry asked. Hopefully Hal would oblige him. He remembered their friendship in that future and how he had reacted to Hal's death.

"Sure. I owe you for this thing anyway." Was the hesitant answer.

Nodding, Barry ran away to find a place he could take the Speed Force suit off without attracting attention while Hal flew up to take the body into space.

**LINE BREAK**

_Barry zigzagged to avoid the hard-light beams that came from the soldiers. "Just our luck that everyone else was too busy for this. I would have loved for Clark, Kara or Diana to do this instead of us."_

"_Barry knock out the sentries while I keep us shielded from the fighters." Hal's shouted out as he formed a green shield above the area that buckled a little under the hard-light beams from the fighters. "Come on Barry I thought you always wanted to visit other planets. Heard there are nude beaches here. Maybe we can have some R&R after we get this nuke off-planet."_

_Barry knocked out the sentries in a few seconds before an explosion rocked the base and blew him flat on his back. He was disoriented from the blast and watched as the debris fell around him. A large piece was about to fall directly on him when he was protected by a green armor encasing itself around him._

"_Thanks Hal. I owe you one." Barry said._

"_You owe me like 5! Remember Kaznia?" Hal lifted the rubble off Barry and they ran and flew toward the base, hoping beyond hope the nuke was still secure._

"_Oh shut up about Kaznia. Did you forget when I saved your ass in Markovia?" Barry quipped as he knocked out the remaining guards and picking up the lead box with the bomb inside. "Nuclear Device is secure."_

"_Let's get out of here Bar." Hal said and flew off._

_Barry just smiled and ran after him._

**LINE BREAK**

**Hal Jordan**

"So, you got struck by lightning and now you're the fastest man alive? Damn I had a cousin who got struck by lightning once. She just got amnesia for a while."

"So Green Lantern? Space Police Force?" Barry asked.

"Yeah we protect the galaxy and bring order and peace. At least that's what the Guardians have us doing. In my opinion we should be more pro-active but that's just me." Hal replied sipping his beer.

"Well maybe you'd like the idea I've got then." Barry smirked. "The Earth needs a force like the Green Lanterns protecting it on a smaller scale, one dedicated to Earth. A team, a group,… a league. Made up of people like you and me, just heroes willing and able to protect innocent people."

Hal sat with the notion for a few minutes before making his decision.

"Where do I sign up?"

**LINE BREAK**

**Tim Drake**

He hit the two thugs with his tonfas, electrocuting them into unconsciousness before moving onto the next ones. There were an uncountable number of them in the room with him.

'Looks like Penguin will finally get what he wants.' Was Timothy Drake's thought as he kept fighting, in the "flow" as his mentor, The Batman, had once called it against the vast numbers arrayed against him. He kept having to spin to deal with the thugs smart enough to flank him and it cost him a few hits.

He kept fighting until a red blur swept in the room and he found all the thugs around him unconscious. Looking ahead he saw a masked man in a red suit.

"Thank you. Your outfit and powers would indicate you to be the hero known as the Flash who operates in Central City. Blüdhaven is pretty far from where you usually roam. What are you doing here?" Tim asked. Nightwing was the only vigilante attached to the city and he didn't want to have another person just drop in and start taking over the job.

"Wow guess you really did learn a lot from Batman. Although he wouldn't have thanked me and just went straight to the aggressive questions." The man snarked before whisking him away.

The world was blurry for a second before he found himself on a rooftop overlooking the warehouse they had just been in moment before. Settling into a mildly defensive stance he reiterated his question.

"What are you doing in Blüdhaven?"

"Chillax Tim" The Flash said jokingly.

The use of his real name alarmed the vigilante that he instinctively threw a smoke bomb from his belt onto the floor beneath them and turned to jump off the roof and grapple himself out of the situation.

That was until he felt himself being carried away and he fell to the ground. This time he was on a different roof.

"Man, I'm the fastest man alive. You literally move in slow motion to me. You know what. Maybe I shouldn't have revealed I know your name so fast. Look let's make things fair."

The superhero took off his mask and ruffled his hair a bit, revealing his face.

"The name's Barry Allen."

Time took the offered hand and shook it, perhaps they could be civil.

"Anyway, I'm here to recruit you. I've been thinking of starting a team of people like us. Heroes who fight to protect people. I've been watching you for a while now and I think you'd be a great fit."

'A team?' Tim mused, 'I don't have information on this Flash or anyone else he might put on the team, not to mention that this might just be a trap.' With only a brief mulling over of the offer the young man had made up his mind quickly. With his mind certain he turned to leave.

"Sorry not interested"

Barry sighed. 'Yeah I was expecting him to say no outright. Hopefully after the League's established he'd be willing to join us.'

Tim Drake saw only a red blur and yellow lightning as he went back to patrolling the rooftops. He shook his head. He couldn't even begin to think of a contingency to handle the metahuman.

'I wonder how Dinah handles being a cop in times like these with superheroes and vigilantes abound. Maybe I should call her or something. I haven't talked to her in a while.'

**Sara Lance**

STAR Labs was pretty much the same as when she had last been in Central City. Science-y and futuristic looking. Hopefully she'd be able to interrogate Cisco and/or Caitlyn alone without Barry around. Maybe one of them knew what had happened to alert the Waverider.

She was flanked by both Ray and Nate. Jax and Stein were with their families and the rest were just on the ship.

"Do you think that Cisco or Cait know what Barry did?" Ray asked.

"They probably do right? Considering that they're his best friends" was Nate's reply.

Sara stayed quiet as they walked, hoping that this wasn't going to be some new flashpoint or something. As she entered the Cortex she saw Cisco and Cait but there was no sign of Barry anywhere in the room.

"What's up guys?" She said with a smile. It was nice to see friends again.

The two were surprised and happy and there were high fives and hugs until Sara broke the happiness of the room with her question.

"Where's Barry?"

The two looked at each other and seemed to communicate with only their eyes for a few seconds.

"We… don't know. It's been worrying us with how much he's changed after getting back." Caitlyn finally said.

"Tell me everything."

**LINE BREAK**

"So you brought Barry back after a few million years in there for him but only a few months for you guys and as soon as he got back he broke up with the girl who's been his crush for years, moved out of his loft to somewhere-you-don't-know, been seen in different cities around the country, and has plans to open up STAR Labs again?" Sara asked, having

The two nodded.

Sara thought about this new development. While it was completely possible that Barry had just changed due to the time he spent in the Speed Force, it was also completely possible that someone else had come back instead of Barry Allen. But whoever it was had to be a speedster right? Or maybe she's just overthinking things and this is really Barry. But then what was the Time Aberration caused by? Suddenly a cold stone settled in Sara's gut.

"Ray, Nate, let's talk outside for a bit."

Walking outside she could tell Ray and Nate both had their two cents.

"Maybe Barry isn't really Barry?" Nate said as soon as they thought they were out of hearing range of the two Team Flash members.

"I've been thinking about that too. If that were true then whoever it is has to be both a speedster and someone either familiar with or has the ability to figure out Gideon's programming. Plus, the lightning is still yellow. It's possible but unlikely." Sara replied.

"Captain maybe we're overreacting? I mean 2 million years in a prison will change a guy. Definitely would change me." Ray piped in.

"Maybe so, but that's what gets me. What if the time aberration isn't from this Barry not being himself but from Barry being here?" Sara said and she watched as realization dawned on her friends' faces.

"You think Barry was never supposed to get out in the first place? That maybe when he realized this wasn't supposed to happen, he programmed Gideon not to say anything?" Ray asked, his face a mixture of confusion and dread.

"If this is true… Then we'd have to make sure our friend has to go back inside the Speed Force and stay there until he's meant to get out, if he even is meant to get out! We'd have to put him back in a hell where he stayed for an uncountable agonizing amount of days. Could we really do that?" Nate asked.

"I… I don't know. Look let's forget I said it and get back to the ship to regroup. Then we investigate more. If we're lucky then Barry just did something stupid to break time and he's trying to hide it." Sara ordered before they marched off.

She hoped that her theory was wrong.

**LINE BREAK**

**Mari McCabe**

Touching her totem and channeling the spirit of an Elephant, Vixen charged through the debris blocking the way out of the burning building. After she was through, she quickly waved to the civilians inside to start making their way to safety. Touching her totem yet again she channeled the speed of the Cheetah and started running inside at speed in order to get as many civilians out and towards safety as she can. That was until she saw a red blur with a trail of yellow lightning getting people in and out to safety. Jumping out of the building with the man she was carrying she landed safely and put the civilian down before standing up to see an old acquaintance of hers.

The Flash. He was smiling and he seemed to want to talk.

"What's up Vixen. I was hoping we could talk?" Looking around he saw that several civilians were taking photos of the two heroes standing together. The Flash waved at the crowd and smiled.

Mari just rolled her eyes. Her fellow hero was definitely more accepting of the spotlight than she was. "Meet on the roof of the bank in 5 minutes." She whispered to the speedster before channeling a bird to fly away.

Barry just shook his head and ran off to the meeting place.

**LINE BREAK**

"I don't work well with others Flash. You and The Green Arrow both know that. Don't be an idiot and truly expect me to take this offer seriously." Mari said haughtily.

Barry just sighed. He didn't actually think Mari would take the offer, and in fact it had taken Mari years before she had joined the league, only doing so after the destruction of half of the United States including Detroit had she overcome her stubbornness. Even then she was always reluctant to work with heroes she hadn't worked with before.

"It was worth a try. Be well Mari." And with that the fastest man alive ran from Detroit with only a red blur and yellow lightning as any sign he was there.

Hearing a cry for help, Vixen channeled into an eagle and took off into the night sky, determined to help her city.

Had she cared to look at where the direction of the yellow lightning trail went, she would have been surprised to see the Flash heading to the worst city in America.

The Scarlet Speedster was heading to Gotham.

**Barry Allen**

He had been to the Batcave only twice before. He hadn't gotten very close to the Earth 1 Bruce Wayne, considering that the man had been retired from the vigilante game for too long to join the League. Yet at the same time the man had helped the League when he could and became somewhat of a mentor to most heroes, his expertise and knowledge had helped every Leaguer at least once or twice. The first masked vigilante in the world had always been somewhat of a hero figure to those that joined the League.

Watching him get into that mechanical batsuit to become the Dark Knight once more had brought a tear to the eyes of many Leaguers, and it was still one of the most heart wrenching moments of the future when he saw Darkseid rip the man in half.

But that was a future now hopefully changed, and this Bruce Wayne was still as cynical and hopeless as he had been when Barry first met him. The former vigilante would move to Italy and spend the rest of his days with Selina Kyle in a few months if Barry had his timeline correct. But currently he was still in the Batcave wallowing in misery and regret.

Barry ran into Gotham as a red blur, stopping ten robberies, five muggings, and sixteen would-be rapists. It was a small relief in a city that had more crimes happen in a day than practically every other city on the East Coast combined. The people he saved would be grateful, thankful that they had survived another day in the pit of hell called Gotham. Then they would be robbed or mugged the very next day.

Barry shook these thoughts out of his mind. Gotham was not a city that could be saved by The Flash, nor by heroes such as the ATOM or Firestorm. Even Superman or Supergirl could never save this city. Only men like Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen could. Heroes who strive to save their city, even after having experienced the depths of darkness and death themselves. Only figures like The Green Arrow and The Batman could.

Zipping into the Batcave he saw the former Dark Knight on the Batcomputer. The man didn't turn around, he didn't need to.

As soon as he reached the center of the cave, a laser net encapsulated the space around him. He knew he could escape it if he wanted to go faster than what he normally went but he decided that Batman needed to have some semblance of security before he'd be willing to talk to the him.

"The Flash, or should I say…Barry Allen?" a gruff voice emanated from the former vigilante, gruffer even than Oliver's "Green Arrow" voice.

"The Batman… I knew you existed! The Green Arrow always liked to say that he was the first vigilante and you were a myth made by the GCPD." He said lightly. He was in no real danger, not when his own speed and abilities had jumped massively from the expectations of this Bruce Wayne.

"What are you doing here?" The Dark Knight asked, ignoring the joking nature of Barry's earlier statement.

"To ask for your help. I want to establish a group, a team, a… league. One comprised of people willing and able to help each other and save innocents." He said plainly. He doubted he'd get too much of a positive response.

"What? Like the JSA?" The question was rhetorical and the silence that followed lasted many long seconds.

"I won't begrudge you the attempt, and I'm a little satisfied you thought of me but I'm retired. Take up the offer with others. Now leave." He said.

The laser field went down and the older man got up to leave, ignoring the Scarlet Speedster still standing in the BatCave.

Barry just sighed and nodded, watching a man he came to respect in that dark future walk away. He would come back, that Barry knew, if only to help set up a successor vigilante for the future of Gotham and help that person with what was at stake for his city.

Turning back he ran out of the cave at his fastest speed. It would send the Batman a message that he was doing his best to be friendly. He was obviously being observed and if he was seen faster that Bruce's expectations then he'd know that the metahuman had the ability to escape the trap at any time, therefore showing him that he trusted him not only with information about his abilities, but also his life.

He decided to run back to Central now, knowing that Cisco and Caitlyn were probably very concerned about him.

**Sarah Lance**

Being the Captain of a timeship was quite a hassle, keeping her people in line was a chore, but it was all worth it to see the amazing events, people, places she had seen thanks to the Waverider.

Having to plan to capture one of the world's greatest superheroes, who happened to be a personal friend of hers, in order to return him to a prison against his will was not one of those times.

After they had gotten back to the ship, Nate and Martin had both managed to pinpoint that the anomaly did in fact come from Barry. Whether it was an imposter or actually Barry didn't really matter. Either the person that came out of the speedforce was Barry and he shouldn't have gotten out yet, or it wasn't Barry and he needed to be defeated and the real Barry found.

Either way the giant field of slowing-down goop (or whatever scientific name Martin and Ray had called it), disguised as regular grass, was exactly the kind of trap that needed to be set for a speedster. Add some improvisation into the mix and she was confident that whatever the situation would be, it would be solved by the Legends. There's a reason they were called that.

Soon, Barry Allen, or whoever it was, wouldn't know what hit him.

**AN:**

**Whew that took a while. My laptop broke and it took about a month for me to get it back from the retailer, thank God for warranty.**

**Anyways, Next time on FTWL Barry has to go up against the Legends and the trap they have prepared for him. Again Feedback would be great and I'm sorry you had to wait so long for this.**

**Hope everyone is doing ok with the Quarantine and with the Pandemic. God Bless.**


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